


Operation Golden Age (Reprise)

by Annariel



Series: UNIT and C19 [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Primeval
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Gen, Team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-05
Updated: 2014-06-06
Packaged: 2018-02-03 13:07:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1745726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annariel/pseuds/Annariel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Abby and Connor go missing checking up a lead for a possibly anomaly, Claudia and Ryan find themselves investigating a mysterious organisation what wants to return the Earth to its primeval splendour.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the art prompt challenge. 
> 
> **Thanks:** To FredBassett for beta-reading and kristen_mara for her [lovely image](http://primeval-denial.livejournal.com/4365335.html) which inspired the story.

It was going to be the first really hot day of summer. Weeks of overcast skies and light to heavy rain had given way to bright blue skies the day before. There had been a last sudden downpour that morning, but now everything was bright and fresh. The headlines in the papers were already shouting about heatwaves. Claudia had no doubt that the Home Office tearoom, which the week before had been full of people complaining about the rain, would shortly be full of people complaining about the heat.

At least they had got to the anomaly on the common before the great British public came out in force for their annual sun bathe. Claudia shaded her eyes and peered across the flat grassy area at the anomaly.

"How's it going?" she asked Nick.

"Well enough, the soldiers seem to have everything under control." He sounded mildly surprised and Claudia suppressed a grin.

"Not bothered by the heat?" she asked, by way of small talk.

Nick snorted. "It's not even properly warmed up yet and it gets a lot hotter than the UK ever does in most of the places I've been for fieldwork. Makes a nice change from the rain, to be honest."

Claudia nodded and looked back at the anomaly. "Where are Connor and Abby, by the way? I was meaning to ask."

"I'm not sure. It's not like Connor to miss something like this. He's usually too excited at the idea of seeing pre-historic creatures."

Claudia frowned slightly. "I can phone the office, see if they responded to the pagers."

"Stephen!" Nick waved his arms over to where Stephen was in consultation with Captain Ryan. Stephen looked up and Nick waved again. "Stephen! Can you come here a moment?"

Stephen nodded and jogged towards them. Ryan followed at a more leisurely pace. Claudia could tell he was still assessing the situation, but everyone was fairly relaxed. Nothing had come through the anomaly so far, and a brief recce on the other side had revealed a dry, flat, desert landscape. No large animals for miles.

"Do you know where Connor and Abby are?" Nick asked once Stephen reached them.

Stephen shook his head. "Not like them to miss something like this."

"That's what I was thinking," Nick frowned. "You don't think they went to check out that place Connor found on the Internet?"

"What place?" Claudia asked with the sinking feeling there was something she hadn't been told about.

"You know Connor. Something came up on one of his conspiracy websites and he got all excited about it."

"It was a report of lights in the skies and monsters, but there was also something about a secret organisation and Nazi spies," Stephen clarified with a shrug.

"Did he take it to Lester?" Ryan interrupted.

"I told him to send in a report," Nick said. "I don't know if he did."

Secret organisations and Nazi spies, Claudia was fairly sure that Lester would have dismissed the report if he had been sent it. She'd read Connor's reports and even when he was recounting something sensible they had an air of wild-eyed over-invention about them.

Stephen had pulled out his phone. "I'll see if I can get hold of either of them."

"Do you know where this location was?" Claudia asked at the same time.

Nick shook his head. "I'm sure he told me but I can't remember the precise address."

"If he did send a report to Lester then he'll have mentioned it there," Stephen pointed out, still listening to his phone.

Claudia sighed and pulled out her own phone. Lester would probably think they were worrying about nothing, on the other hand Connor had already demonstrated that he was more than capable of getting himself into trouble and dragging Abby right in after him.

* * *

An hour later Claudia and Ryan pulled up on a quiet side street. They were on the edge of well-heeled suburbia where grand Victorian terraces were giving way to 1930s detached houses with large gardens. It had been a pleasant drive over. Lester had authorised just the two of them, and it made a nice change to ride in one of the Range Rovers without the constant chatter and speculation of a full team. Ryan's driving was careful and he exuded competence, allowing Claudia to relax in the passenger seat in a way she never quite felt able to when Nick was at the wheel, speculating on theories, gesticulating with one (or sometimes both) hands and looking all around at anything and everything. After a while she had wound down the window and luxuriated in the breeze.

She glanced across at Ryan in his black combats. "Don't you get hot?"

He grinned. "A little."

Since their job looked to be little more than some fact-finding, Ryan had left his weapons and bullet-proof vest behind with the rest of the soldiers at the anomaly site. However the black shirt and trousers still made him look over-dressed for the weather, especially since he'd thrown a brown jacket over the top.

Ryan parked them up neatly by the curb. Claudia looked at the address they had noted down and compared it to the A-Z she had spread across her knees.

"It's that next street along."

They walked along the road towards Harcourt Close. It turned out to be a remnant of the Victorian building in the area. Imposing terraced houses ran down either side of the road, each three stories high, with sunken area yards leading down to basements. Cast iron railings fenced off each sunken yard and ran up the sides of the imposing steps that lead to each front door. The pavements were made from York Stone flags and the lampposts had a distinctive oldy-worldy feel to them. Most startlingly, however, was the row of red telephone boxes lining one side of the street.

Ryan whistled quietly. "What are they about, I wonder?"

Claudia shook her head. "I've no idea. Eccentric collector perhaps?"

"Fashion statement?" Ryan grinned and walked up to the first box, peering inside.

Claudia stood next to him. It looked perfectly ordinary. "I assume it doesn't work. They must have been moved here, right, when all the phone boxes were modernised?"

Ryan shrugged. Claudia opened the box door and lifted up the phone. "No dialling tone," she reported.

They walked down the street. The map said it was a cul-de-sac, turning a corner at the end and then stopping. Claudia counted four houses on the phone box side and five opposite them. It looked like the four houses were all joined together in some way. Most of the doors had blocked up letterboxes and signs instructing people to inquire at number one. On the other side the houses were more individual, with riotous plots of flowers in some of the yards, bicycles dumped in others, and a dismal pile of discarded rubbish in the one at the end.

They turned the corner to find themselves in an enclosed area clearly used as a car park by the residents. None of the houses had doors onto the space which was instead surrounded by high brick walls and large wooden gates. Claudia's map suggested that beyond it lay large garden areas for the houses. An odd assortment of cars were parked in a vague semblance of order, noses pointing towards the walls and gates.

"That's Abby's car, isn't it?" said Ryan pointing towards a little mini, wedged in between a large four by four and a beaten up Saab. 

"I think so," Claudia agreed.

They wandered over to the car, peering through the windows in the hope of inspiration. A flutter of movement on the back seat caught Claudia's eye and then she gasped, realising that Rex was sprawled miserably on a blanket.

"I can't believe they brought Rex with them," she said in astonishment.

"They probably didn't. He sneaked in last time, could easily have done so again."

They looked at the animal. The tip of his tail twitched briefly but that was the only sign of movement.

"He doesn't look very happy," Claudia said uncertainly.

"It'll be the heat. This isn't a good day to be an animal trapped in a car."

Claudia shaded her eyes and peered through the window again. "I thought Rex came from a hot climate. Isn't that why Abby keeps her flat so warm?"

"Not as hot as that car will be inside," Ryan said with certainty.

Claudia bit her lip. "Should we smash a window or something?" She looked around her at the street. It seemed deserted but she was pretty sure petty vandalism would galvanise the neighbourhood watch into action. Lester would definitely be unhappy if they drew too much attention to themselves.

"Nothing so drastic," Ryan said with confidence. He was fishing around in the pockets of his jacket. "A car that old, all I need is a ruler and a bit of luck."

"Really?"

"I'd say it was the product of a mis-spent youth, but it has more to do with bored young men in army training." Ryan flourished a narrow steel ruler which had been secreted in a pocket somewhere.

A few frustrated minutes later, they had the door of the mini open and Rex flew out to land on Ryan's shoulders. 

"What do we do now?" Ryan asked. He eyed Rex slightly dubiously.

"Well we know Connor and Abby were definitely here. I suppose we knock on doors and ask if anyone has seen them."

Ryan gestured towards Rex. "The two of us should stay out of sight then."

"That would probably be for the best," Claudia agreed reluctantly. Ryan, in full combat get-up, would have been a little difficult to explain at the best of times, carrying a pet lizard definitely tipped him over into very strange.

"If anything happens, give a good loud scream," he advised.

Claudia scowled at him, straightened her shoulder and marched back around the corner. She decided to try the four houses that had been knocked together first. Presumably they had a receptionist or similar who would be manning the entrance. The plaque on the door of number one explained that this was "Golden Age Ltd." which meant very little to Claudia. If Connor had been around he would no doubt have been able to look it up on the Internet but Claudia's laptop was back at the Home Office and, despite several hints, Lester had shown no inclination to buy her one of the new iPhones that were being advertised everywhere.

Claudia pressed the buzzer on the door and waited. After a moment or two a tinny female voice came over the intercom and asked who it was.

"I'm Claudia Brown, Home Office."

"What's your business please?"

"I'm inquiring about two colleagues who may have been here earlier today."

"Sorry, no one has been here today."

The intercom fizzed slightly as if someone was shutting it down. Claudia frowned at the door and then buzzed again.

"What is it?"

"I'd like to speak with someone in person please. The Home Office is taking this matter seriously."

She was greeted with silence. She hovered on the top step and wondered whether to buzz again, phone Lester, or try the other side of the street. Suddenly the door was violently pulled open. A thick set woman was standing on the other side, wearing a smart blue uniform that looked vaguely military in nature. Claudia put on her best smile and pulled out a photo of Connor and Abby that Stephen had had in his wallet. It wasn't the most official looking photograph in the world, but it was better than nothing.

"I'm looking for Mr. Temple and Miss Maitland. We believe they were in this area this morning."

"Not seen them," said the woman barely glancing at the photo, and moved to close the door.

Claudia wedged herself into the gap and was pleased to note that the woman clearly didn't have quite the courage to actually close the door on her.

"Might they have spoken to someone else? They were investigating reports of unusual activity in the area. They may have asked about escaped animals or unexplained occurrences."

"I said I haven't seen them," the woman repeated and a more steely expression came over her face. "Now I am very busy so if you will kindly get off my doorstep before I have you removed."

Claudia recognised she had pushed as hard as she could and took a step backwards. The door slammed in her face. She indulged in a moment of childishness and stuck her tongue out at it.

As she walked down the steps and crossed to the houses on the other side she pondered the encounter. The woman might just have been unfriendly, but that was odd for someone manning reception (or whatever) at a company. Claudia thought she had something to hide, but she had very little to go on. She was going to need more evidence before she could get into the place.

The house opposite number one was a riot of colour. Someone clearly had a fondness for salmon pink geraniums which overflowed in pots down the steps and filled the yard below with a riot of colour. Brightly-coloured curtains were visible in the windows and Claudia could see decorative teapots on the sill. There was a brass nameplate next to the doorbell which read "Dr. Letitia Warner"

She rang the doorbell which chimed euphoniously. Moments later a spry-looking old lady opened the door and beamed at her. "Hello dear!"

"Dr. Warner?" Claudia asked.

"Call me Letitia, dear, I hardly use the Doctor now I'm retired."

"Letitia, hello, I'm Claudia Brown, Home Office. I'm looking for two colleagues who were here earlier today."

Claudia showed her the photo of Connor and Abby.

"Oh yes! A lovely couple. They were here this morning though the young man was suffering a bit. Between you and me, I think it was hay fever."

The old lady glanced significantly at the geraniums and Claudia felt the need to join her in silent contemplation of the likely culprits.

"He does have allergies," she agreed.

The old lady nodded. "So how can I help you?"

"Do you know where they went after they spoke to you?"

"Oh yes, they were going to talk to the Golden Age people over the road. I told them that if anyone was keeping illegal wild animals it would be them."

"Really, what is Golden Age Ltd?"

"I don't know the details but they are some kind of fascist eco-terrorist organisation. They started up back to the seventies, you know, when they were nearly closed down by the security services."

"Fascist eco-terrorists?" Claudia echoed doubtfully though she couldn't think of any logical reason why the two terms sounded like an oxymoron.

"Oh yes! Strange but true. In the seventies they were all about a grand vision of a pristine world, the measures needed to bring it about and, of course, population control and the chosen few. I've been in this street longer than they have and I remember going to a meeting for local residents when they first arrived. They were quite visible until they got into trouble with the law and then they went all quiet. I got some of their old leaflets out to show your colleagues - the young man particularly liked the whole "return to the Golden Age of the dinosaurs" tag line. Seemed to find it quite amusing."

"I can imagine he did." Claudia frowned. Golden Age Ltd was looking increasingly suspect. "Can I ask what Mr. Temple and Miss. Maitland were asking about exactly - they didn't leave very comprehensive notes."

Letitia Warner smiled though with an edge of indulgent disapproval. "Yes, I can imagine paperwork wouldn't really suit either of them. They were asking about reports of strange lights. That will have been from Mr. Oakes at number 6, he's a bit of a conspiracy theorist and he's often up late. But he's gone to some kind of conspiracy conference so they couldn't speak to him. I gather he reported a light in the parking area and mysterious activity from Golden Age. Men in Black conducting military operations, that kind of thing. All a bit odd because I wouldn't have pegged him as a complete fantasist."

Claudia nodded and stared thoughtfully across the road. "Thank you, Letitia, you've been most helpful."

"My pleasure."

Claudia paused halfway down the steps and looked back up at the old woman. "Why the telephone boxes, do you know?"

Letitia shook her head. "No idea. They started turning up after whatever trouble Golden Age got into in the seventies. They even had a police telephone box for a while but the wood rotted and in the end it fell apart."

Claudia shrugged, thanked Letitia once again and headed back to Ryan.

"Well?" he asked.

"I think we're going to need some help. According to a very gossipy little old lady across the street Connor and Abby were definitely here and went to speak to Golden Age, who are some kind of fascist eco-terrorist organisation. Golden Age deny seeing them, but it seems hard to imagine even Connor could get lost crossing a road."

"Fascist eco-terrorist?" Ryan raised an eyebrow.

"That's what she said. She also said they wanted to return the Earth to its prehistoric splendour."

"Ah! So if dinosaurs turned up around here, they might have a motive to conceal the fact."

Claudia nodded. "Anyway, apparently they had a run in with the authorities in the seventies. That might give Lester enough leverage to get us in there."

She was just pulling out her phone when, with a massive crashing sound the gates at the end of the parking yard splintered and two animals burst through.

Claudia didn't recognise either of them. One was a vaguely deer or horse-like creature. It could possibly have been some kind of African herd beast except that Claudia was sure its short trunk would have made it better known and she would have recognised it from wildlife documentaries. Behind it was a long, squat, armoured creature. It made Claudia think of a very large tortoise, except that the shell was made out of dozens of tiny plates and its head was furry and looked a little like a beaver.

Immediately behind the two animals were two men in the same quasi-military uniform worn by the Golden Age woman that Claudia had spoken too. What shocked Claudia was that both men were openly carrying guns. There was a moment of confused stand-off - the men had clearly not expected to be confronted by other people.

Then Rex rose high into the air and dive-bombed the closest man. Seconds later Ryan took several quick steps forward and before Claudia knew it the second man was disarmed and lying on the ground. 

There was a shout. Claudia glanced up to see Abby on the other side of the gate with another uniformed man was holding her.

"Connor's injured!" Abby shouted before being dragged out of sight.

Claudia looked back to find both the uniformed men on this side of the gate were unconscious.

"Ryan?" she began.

"Phone for back up," he said grimly, picking up the two discarded pistols. "Then get yourself somewhere safe."

He disappeared through the gate at a run, leaving Claudia alone with two prehistoric creatures, three if you counted Rex who circled once above her head and then landed on her shoulder.


	2. Chapter 2

Ryan quickly assessed the situation as he ran through the broken gates. He was on the edge of a large garden, no doubt created by combining all the properties owned by Golden Age Ltd. He saw an unkempt grassy meadow and, beyond it fruit trees and the glimpse of a formal lawn. However he was standing on concrete and the heavy smell of animals and manure hit his nose. His quick glance suggested it had once been a small stable but it was now filled with makeshift pens each containing one or two pre-historic animals. The gates to two of the pens stood open.

Abby was just ahead of him, being dragged down a small path beside the meadow towards the first of the houses. If Ryan had to make a guess at the sequence of events, it would be that Abby had escaped captivity somehow and attempted to free the animals in order to create a diversion.

"Connor's injured. Ryan! Connor's injured!" Abby shouted.

Ryan fired a warning shot over the heads of the two figures with one of his looted pistols. "Let her go, mate!"

The man just swung Abby between him and Ryan and, although she kicked and struggled, his greater weight was against her and they both vanished into the house.

Ryan trusted that Claudia was summoning back-up. His priority was to make sure Connor and Abby were safe, before their captors did anything foolish.

He moved to the back door of the house and tried the handle. He was unsurprised to find it was locked. However the time for discretion was past. He shot out the lock and entered the building.

* * *

The two prehistoric creatures were ambling out of the parking area towards the main street. Rex chittered angrily into Claudia's ear. She hurried after the two animals, still dialling Lester's number. There wasn't much she could do to herd or contain them but least she could keep an eye on where they were. She was relieved to see them heading for Letitia Warner's geraniums. She'd had a suspicion they were both herbivores and that seemed to confirm it.

She paused outside Letitia's house, keeping a wary distance from the two gently-chomping creatures, and held the phone to her ear waiting for Lester to answer. She had her back to number one and so it was a moment before she registered the sound of a door opening and closing. When she turned it was to see the woman from Golden Age was almost upon her.

Claudia took a step back, looking for somewhere to run and silently pleading with Lester to answer his phone. The woman grabbed from the phone. Claudia took another step back trying to pull herself free. Rex rose up off her shoulder and flew at the woman screeching and flapping his wings in her face. Somewhat to Claudia's surprise, the woman continued hanging onto the phone. She was a good deal larger than Claudia and considerably stronger, and Claudia's heart sank as her phone landed on the cobbled street and was ground underfoot. Then the woman grabbed hold of Claudia herself.

Suddenly a firm voice shouted.

"Leave her alone!"

To Claudia's surprise Letitia Warner joined in the fray, armed with a large black umbrella which she beat down on the woman's head. Claudia pulled free of the woman. Letitia's front door was open and she grabbed Letitia's arm and headed towards it. The woman started to follow them, but Rex dive-bombed her again and she stalled flapping at the small lizard.

Claudia pushed Letitia passed the two grazing herbivores, up her front steps and through her front door. 

"Rex, here!" Claudia shouted, her hand on the handle.

Rex performed a loop and swooped into Letitia Warner's hallway above Claudia's head. Then Claudia slammed the door shut and rammed home the dead-bolt she was relieved to find on the other side.

"Well, that was exciting," Letitia remarked, tucking a stray wisp of hair behind her ear. "Tea?"

* * *

Ryan made his way cautiously though the Golden Age premises. The building wasn't much of a warren, but it was inconveniently laid out, with a long corridor knocked through the four houses on the first floor and staircases leading both down and up from it. It meant that, on his own, Ryan couldn't efficiently clear each room as he went. He opted to move along the long corridor, checking the first floor rooms and being alert to anyone moving in behind him.

Posters adorned the walls, brightly-coloured, old-fashioned-looking painted pictures of families gazing heroically into the middle distance with "Operation Golden Age" written underneath.

He could still hear Abby shouting up ahead. There was also the faint sound of doors opening and closing and shouting from the street outside. He followed the sound of Abby's voice.

The first two rooms were empty. The odd abandoned desk or chair stood forlornly on fading carpets. Whatever Golden Age Ltd was, it had seen more prosperous days. However, in the third room there was a computer desk, and a balding man peering at a monitor through thick glasses. He looked up and registered Ryan with little more than a frown.

"Don't leave this room!" Ryan ordered, gesturing with his pistol. The man's eyes widened but all he did was nod mutely. 

Ryan stepped out and shut the door firmly. He wished he could lock it, but hoped that intimidation would suffice.

"Hold it right there!" A woman was standing at the end of the corridor pointing a pistol at him.

Ryan instinctively ducked and rolled, crossing the corridor and landing in the empty room on the far side. A shot rang out. He hastily pulled the door closed and then flattened himself to the floor, just as a row of bullets punched their way through the wall at approximately waist height. Ryan waited until he saw the door handle turn indicating that someone was about to investigate the results of their handiwork. Then he sprung to his feet and pulled the door forcefully inwards. The woman on the other side staggered as she came off balance, giving Ryan the opportunity to grab her gun and club her over the back of the head. He sighed inwardly, looking at her prone form. That was the third person he'd knocked unconscious in the space of fifteen minutes. If any of them got brain damage there would be hell to pay.

* * *

The redoubtable Dr. Warner supplied Claudia with tea and a telephone, and Rex with water.

"Don't worry about me, dear, I'll be better for doing something" she said as she fluttered around the kitchen. 

When the rest of the anomaly team came screeching to a halt in the middle of the road in three black vehicles, she surveyed the team of black-clad soldiers with approval.

"Now there's a sight for sore eyes," she said.

Claudia suppressed a grin and hurried outside to coordinate, past the two animals which appeared to have taken residence outside Letitia's house.

"Right, I'll lead a small team into the house," Nick announced once Claudia had outlined the situation.

Claudia's heart sank. Much as she respected Cutter, it was armed fanatics he was up against here, not wild animals.

"Is someone going to rescue my geraniums?" Letitia Warner asked at that moment.

Claudia hadn't noticed her exiting the house, but the little old lady now stood at her elbow with a gleam in her eye that suggested to Claudia that she already more than had Cutter's measure.

"You said you thought they had the animals in pens back there. We can probably lure them down the street again," Stephen said. "You may need to sacrifice a couple of your pots to us."

Nick's attention was drawn to the two animals grazing on Dr. Warner's plants. "Looks like they got themselves an anomaly to the Pleistocene. That's a Glyptodon and a Machrauchenia."

Claudia gathered that the armoured creature was the Glyptodon while the one with the trunk was the Machrauchenia. As Letitia cleverly drew Cutter into a lecture, Claudia turned her attention back to Lieutenant Lyle who was just checking over the team.

"What's the situation?" he asked her.

"Connor, Abby and Ryan are all inside. According to Abby, Connor is injured. She's being held captive. Ryan went in after her."

Lyle swore quietly. "It's going to be hellishly complicated in there."

"Everyone stop!" A commanding voice shouted out.

They all looked up to see a man standing at one of the top windows of the row of houses. He was holding Abby with a gun up against her head.

"That's right! Now everyone listen to me. I have some demands."

"Get us a hostage negotiator," Lyle muttered. "He looks like a complete amateur but we can't take any chances."

Claudia was already raising Letitia's phone when there was a sudden movement in the window. The man appeared to half turn. Abby pulled away from him and then he vanished. There was a thumping sound. Moments later Ryan appeared in the window.

"I've secured the hostages!" he called down.

Lyle hissed through his teeth.

"Not the approved way of doing things?" Claudia asked quietly.

"No, but if Ryan saw an opening he was probably wise to take it."

* * *

Lester's expression was wavering between irritated and approving. Claudia could see he had a big stack of paper in front of him, including no doubt everyone's reports, but since she'd spent the last twenty-four hours being interviewed by the police, MI5, UNIT and then the police again she suspected he was enjoying reports from all those august institutions as well.

"So do we know who the hell those Golden Age people were?" Cutter demanded as he sat down.

Lester sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Not as such, no, though clearly both MI5 and UNIT know more than they're telling us. However, Captain Ryan will be relieved to hear there is going to be no comeback from his forced entry into the premises."

"Under the circumstances..." Cutter began angrily.

"No comeback, Cutter! What do you want a red carpet and a bouquet? It was all highly irregular, though clearly the action was warranted."

"Do we know any more at all, James?" Claudia asked, attempting to defuse the situation.

"Not a lot more than your Dr. Warner told you. You fell in with the rag-tag end of a bunch of fanatics who wanted to return the Earth to its primeval splendour."

"Could they be responsible for the anomalies?" Claudia couldn't help asking.

"UNIT think not. At any rate we only found Pleistocene animals in their yard. We think they must have stumbled upon just the one anomaly."

"The one Connor read about that opened outside their front door?" Abby asked.

Lester nodded and glanced down at his paperwork. "Speaking of which, I gather he's doing fine."

"Yeah, the hospital kept him in for observation over night because he was unconscious for so long and he's got stitches in his forehead and left leg, but he seems right as rain now."

"Well next time you find a suspicious organisation, please phone for help rather than scaling the back gate and going for a look around."

Abby slouched unrepentantly in her chair. "If we hadn't climbed the gate, you wouldn't have had anything to go on."

Lester gave her a hard look and said nothing until she squirmed slightly. "Yeah, all right, or at least we'll keep you better informed."

He gave an exaggerated sigh but nodded his acknowledgement.

"So, do we have any idea what these Golden Age people were actually doing?" Cutter pressed.

"MI5 are crawling all over them with forensic accountants but I think its already clear the organisation was on its last legs. They actually only had a couple of people manning those offices you found. That woman Claudia met at the front door, nominally their CFO, and an IT man. The rest of the men you encountered were volunteers. They had a small network of regional offices around the country and summoned some of their tougher recruits in a hurry a couple of nights ago to investigate the anomaly and then guard the animals."

"Regional offices?" Cutter queried sounding incredulous.

Lester favoured him with another hard stare. "It's what they called them. When that anomaly opened, Golden Age thought things were about to turn around. The call went out and they mobilised what few followers they still had as quickly as possible."

"Why didn't anyone know about them before this?" asked Stephen.

"Oh, they did. They had just long been written off as a bunch of harmless cranks who would eventually disappear. To be honest, if it hadn't been for the anomaly I don't think that assessment was far off."

Ryan rolled his head on his shoulders, his eyes taking in most of the room but lingering on Abby and Claudia. It rather clearly said that he didn't think Golden Age had been that harmless.

A small smile ghosted the corners of Lester's mouth. "While I'm sure we are all very impressed by your heroics, Captain, I think even you would have to admit that the opposition did not cause you much difficulty."

Cutter sniffed. "So that's it, is it? We get rapped over the knuckles for climbing a fence and protecting our own and told the people we faced were harmless."

Lester raised one eyebrow and his gaze swept around the room. "You did a good job. Well done team," he deadpanned.

The delivery was dry, but Claudia actually had a feeling he meant it.


End file.
